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Impact Sensors: A Missing Piece of Head Injury Programs

By Brooke De Lench, Moms Team, 10/17/18, 12:00PM PDT

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Many sports concussions go undetected because athletes don't recognize that they have symptoms of concussion or are reluctant to self-report such symptoms.

If there has been one area in which I have devoted more of my energy and passion as a youth sports safety expert and Executive Director of MomsTEAM/SmartTeams for the past 18 years, it is has been in trying to reduce the risk of short- and long-term brain injury to athletes in contact and collision sports.

One of the ways I have long believed contact and collision sports can be made safer is through the use of impact sensors. Most of those sensors are small, highly sophisticated electronic devices embedded in mouth guards, chin straps, skull caps, ear buds or skin patches. They also are attached to the interior or exterior of helmets which transmit data via Blue Tooth connection on the number and force of head impacts athletes sustain during games or practices to a dedicated monitor, iPhone, iPad or laptop on the sports sideline.